Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-03-24
CAUSES OF COLDS.
AN OBSERVER CLAIMS THEY ARE
PECULIAR TO CIVILIZED LIFE.

A Soldiers Experience in the Field-No
Colds Caused by Exposure in Active
service-Dangers of Excessive Comfort.
On the Plains.
Reading recently an article Of DR.. Brown
Sequard on Taking Cold" it occurred to me
that colds are peculiar to civilized life, and to
our comfortable, warm rooms. / have had
colds perhaps as frequently as any one, but
during one period Of my life l was entirely
free from them, with one exception
served through the war in the Fifth Ohio
cavalry, beginning at Shiloh, and ending my
service with the march to the sea- We we're
an active regiment, always at the front, and
therefore remarkably unencumbered with
tents or comforts We were exposed to all
weathers and all seasons Many a time we
were rained on for a week or more. When
the sun came out the next week or the week
after, it dried US Many a time, long after
dark after march in rain and mud all day,
we have been fled into miry woods, where
we slept in the rain with the running water
washing between US and our blankets |
have seen men wake in the morning with
their hair frozen in the mud But none of
US caught cold We swan the Tennessee
river after midnight, when the mercury was
at zero, and among floating ice and came out
with our clothes, to our armpits, frozen like
sheet iron, and then marched till morning.
In the cold winter of 1866 we were in the
mountainous country of East Tennessee,
where it is as cold as Ohio. We were there
from November until March, without any
tents or shelter of any kind, moving every
day, and sleeping in different place every
night, with the temperature frequently below
zero.
have, with my comrades, ridden upon the
skirmish line when could not lift cartridge
out of my box, nor even pick up carbine
cap. have been on night pickets, mounted,
when the pickets had to be relieved every
fifteen minutes, because if left longer the
men could not load and fire. But we never
caught the slightest cold, nor did l ever in
times of cold and exposure to wet see SOL
dier with a cold.
FROM EXCESSIVE COMFORT.
But did catch one cold IN the army, and 1
never had such a one before or since. 1t
came from excessive comfort, or what seemed
comfort to us. We were at Camp Davies,
Miss, the southern outpost Of the great fort
ress of Corinth. Having been there some
months we began to build neat log cabins,
with openings for doors and windows-no
glass or doors, of course.
One of our mess being young bricklayer
we thought to surpass our neighbors in style
and comfort, and we sent for brick and he
built US a large chimney and fireplace, and
we built good fire. That settled US. Four
Of us had to go to the hospital with tremen-
dous colds on our chests and in our heads. We
never had such heavy colds in our lives This
was about the middle of our three years Of
service, and before and after that l never saw
an exposed soldier with a cold. (Of course a
few DAYS after our cabins were finished we
got marching orders) 1 believe all old sol
diers will bear me out that in active cam
paigns where there was great exposure to the
weather, no one had a cold And come to
think Of it, in my experience in Colorado and
Utah in recent years, never saw an Indian
with q cold, though they stand more exposure
than our cattle do. 1t is our hot rooms that
give us our colds II a person would camp
out from fall till spring, exposed to the
weather Of severe winter, he would never
take either cold, pleurisy or pneumonia, and
would be absolutely free from them. But
when you are in Rome you must do as the
Romans do, and take warm rooms and colds.
Andrew Van Bibber in Scientific Amer
ican.